ONE NORMAL LIFE / TWO EXTRAORDINARY LIVES
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BtVS AU/AR › Het - Male/Female › Buffy/Spike(William)
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Adult ++
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210
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Category:
BtVS AU/AR › Het - Male/Female › Buffy/Spike(William)
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
210
Views:
11,837
Reviews:
182
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Disclaimer:
I do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer (BtVS), nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.
FENCING
CHAPTER 130 - FENCING
MAY 26, 2009
MONDAY - LABOR DAY
11:00AM
"Maybe I shouldn't take classes this summer," William mused, taking a sip of his lemonade.
They were sitting outside having lunch around the new, green, plastic table they'd just bought for the backyard that weekend. They’d also bought matching chairs, and a white umbrella with a green leaves print on it. They'd seen much nicer patio tables, with comfortable, cushioned chairs, and matching chaise lounges. Reluctantly though, they’d agreed it would be in the best interest of saving money for their wedding, to go for something simple for now.
"Why do you say that?" Buffy asked, taking a bite of her egg salad sandwich.
"Classes are during the day, I won't be able to work during that time, luv," he said looking worried.
"I thought Mrs. Carpello told you that she'd work around your schedule."
"Well, with classes starting at 8:00 until noon, and 1:00 - 4:00, I'd have to go there at like 5:30am, which I don't much fancy at all, and leave by 7:30, or work there in the evening. Either way, I won't be able to work full-time like I was. Oh, and the library did say I could either work there from 5pm till 8pm, or just on Saturdays, but then I can't help out Edna. Or if I help her on Sundays instead, that means we practically won't have any time together at all this summer."
"You know you don't have to work, right? We've got enough money to get by for a few months, just from the interest on some of the investments and it's not like I won't be working, and..."
"No!" he said, shaking his head.
"William," Buffy said, putting her hand on top his, "I know it makes you uncomfortable doing it that way, but you're going to school so eventually you'll be able to get a job which will better suit your talents; something that’ll be rewarding, and with a good salary, right?"
He nodded his head, emphatically. There was no way that he wasn't going to be able to provide for himself and Elizabeth, plus any children they might have in the future.
"Then you have to, rather, we have to make some sacrifices along the way. For you, if you want to take both courses in Summer 1, you're going to either make yourself crazy trying to go to school, plus trying to go to work at the crack of dawn, then until sunset. And don't forget about homework, you're taking two, normally 18 week courses in about 4 weeks, and there's still going to be a lot of homework. Plus, even if I am working, which is only going to be about 4 hours a day, I do want to spend some of my summer with you," she said, looking at him.
William sighed, "Suppose I could just take one course each summer session. That way I could work and go to school, and still have time to smell the roses, as the saying goes. Or you," he said, smiling.
"Yeah."
"It's just I feel so behind in everything, since I've forgotten so much; want to get back that which I've lost as quickly as I can."
"I know, and you will. I have no doubts about it."
He smiled at her, glad that she was surer of him, than he was of himself. Her faith in him gave him more strength than he could ever express in words, at least ones he would dare read or sayud. ud.
"Suppose I could take a course onlinoo.\oo."
"Yeah, you could do that, and you certainly wouldn't have to finish it in 4 weeks time."
"Maybe I'll do that too, then."
"Oh, and as for Edna, I forgot to tell you, she mentioned that Wally would be staying up here again for the summer, so you probably won't have to worry about helping her on Saturdays, since he'll be there."
William nodded, "Ah, that's good. Be good for her to have him around all the time, still, she might need my help somet." ."
"Yeah, she probably will," she said, as her fingers played with his. William and Edna had a relationship, very much like family; both being concerned about each other's welfare. Well, it had spanned more than 50 years, even though neither of them knew it at present. Edna had been the only person outside of her circle of friends who knew how deeply she had mourned for Spike when she'd moved up here, how much she'd loved him. And at least with Edna, she'd never had to apologize or feel defensive about her feelings.
"We'll work something out," he said, "besides, saw another class I t I thought we might take, but don't know if you'll like the idea of it at all."
"Really? What's that."
"Fencing," he said. ”Was a notice at the library the other day."
"Sounds like fun," she said.
"You're interested then? Good. They're holding it in the high school's gym on Monday and Wednesday evenings from 7 - 8. Think it starts next week, if you want to sign up. It costs $50 each person, but they provide all the equipment.”
"I actually had a class in it, back in school, then again at Oxford. All the young men took it, so it seemed. Very respectable in my..." he stopped, just short of making a fool of himself, by making it sound like he went to school in a different time. A different century even, the way his warped memory problems would have him believing.
"You got graded on it?"
"Not exactly like academic courses, but we were expected to take it or something like it," he said. "I think it's even in my transcripts, under extracurricular, or some such heading," he said.
"I know a little about it, too," Buffy said, holding her breath.
"You do?"
"Um, yeah. You sort of showed me some moves, back in Sunnydale," she lied, figuring it was the easiest of all possible ways to tell him that she knew how to use a sword. One of many sharp, pointy objects she was all too familiar with.
"I did?"
She nodded, "Well, not exactly with masks and all the en garde stuff, more like informal. Sometimes we used long sticks," she said, studying his face to gage his reaction.
"And other times?"
"The real thing...The Magic Box used to carry those things, along with new age-y stuff. And books,e ree remembered to add.
He looked at her, "But without the masks and en gardes?"
"Uh-huh," she said, getting a bit worried.
"Hmm," he said, looking at her as he pondered this latest bit of information about her and himself. He couldn’t imagine teaching her to fence, let alone doing so without proper form and safety. Then again, from what he could gather, he was quite a bit different from what he remembered himself being like, or what he felt he was like now.
“That doesn’t seem to have been a very wise thing to do,” he said, looking at her seriously, “I didn’t hurt you, did I?”
“No, you were careful.”
“Good.”
She was so lost in her thought, that it came as a complete surprise to her, when she looked up and saw a half-smirk, half-grin vying for prominence on his lips.
“What?” she asked.
"Were you as good at fencing, as you are at sparring?"
"Guess I'll let you be the judge of that," she said grinning back, a bit relieved.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
JUNE 5, 2009
THURSDAY
11:15AM
William walked into the bookstore happily, he checked his backpack into a free locker, then walked to the back of the store, giving the clerk the list of books he needed. After he’d gotten them, he went to get some notebooks, and other essentials.
As he was walking down one aisle, he saw a shelf full of art supplies. On a whim, remembering the picture Elizabeth had given him in the hospital of his ‘fantasy’ drawing of their getting married, he decided to purchase a medium sized drawing pad, some colored pencils, and charcoals. He smiled, satisfied as he went up to the counter to pay for his purchases, excited to get home and give in to some artistic expression, which he didn’t realize until just then, he’d been missing.
William collected his backpack from the locker, and put his new books and art supplies into it. As he was walking out, he saw a notice taped to the inside of the door. It read:
Theatre Department Fund Raiser
June 5 & 6th, Noon - 5:00PM
Come Ye! Come Ye! All those interested in period pieces, Halloween costumes, or dress-up!
Selling all costumes, props, and weaponry, used in last year’s theatrical productions in order to raise funds for the coming year.
Cash only.
William looked in his wallet. “Great,” he said, noting he only had about half of his meager paycheck left, after cashing it this morning and paying for books. Still...
He wandered over to the building where the arts and theatre classes were held and located the auditorium where the sale was being held. He tried the door, but it was locked. Glancing at his watch he realized he was a half-hour early. He decided it would be best to wait here, rather than to leave and return, so he sat down against the wall, and unzipped his backpack and began looking at one of his new books. Surprisingly, nobody else came while he was waiting, and he was beginning to think that perhaps he’d gotten the time wrong. Just as he was about to give run back over to the bookstore to double-check his information, the door was opened by a young woman wearing a white T-shirt, with black lettering, which said, ‘Theater Geek,’ o. S. Smiling at him, she motioned him in. He rose and followed her inside the auditorium. There on the stage, were all the costumes and props. He looked around for a few moments, then finally spotted the swords, leaning up against the right wall, next to the rows of seats.
He walked over to them and whistled softly. Most were better than the ones they had at class, having much more detail and heft to them. He picked up a broadsword sabre, and seeing nobody about, did a couple of cuts and thrusts with it.
“You look like you know what you’re doing,” said an older man who appeared at William’s side.
“Ah...well, a bit,” William said, embarrassed. “Just started taking a fencing class.”
“Must be a quick study then, you seem to have the moves down.”
“Well, took one back in...before, so I suppose something stuck,” William said, humbly.
“In case you’re wondering, only the blunt edged epees were used on stage, the rest came from my own collection. I’m just donating these to help with the fundraising.”
William nodded.
“So, you’d like to have one of your own then?”
“Actually, need a couple of them, I’m taking the class with my...wife.”
“Well, that’s neat, not enough women in the sport; never could get my wife and girls interested...but better be careful arming the missthouthough.”
It took William a couple of moments to realize what he meant, then he grinned a little, “I don’t think I have to worry about that, besides, if she wanted to hurt me, I doubt she’d need a sword.”
The man laughed sympathetically the way men do around each other, when no women arout.out.
“Could you please tell me the cost of these?”
“Well, today’s your lucky day, I’m selling them for $25.00 each, which is a real steal.”
William decided on 2 sabres, because one of them was for a left-handed person, then debated if he should get the 2 theatrical epées or 2 Italian longswords.
He chose the longswords.
He took out his wallet and paid the man $100.00.
That left him with just barely enough money to buy gas for the next 2 weeks.
As he was walking past the costumes though, his eye caught sight of one of the dresses that were for sale. He walked up the stairs to the stage, carrying his swords and walked over to examine it. It was a long yellow satin gown, with white lace at the bottom and up the middle of the sleeves. He wasn’t sure why it seemed so familiar to him, but all of a sudden he had an inexplicable urge to buy it for Elizabeth.
“How much is this?” he asked the girl who had opened the door for him.“It’“It’s $25.00,” she said.
He set down the swords and looked in his wallet again. He only had $15.00 left.
“Drats,” he swore.
“Not enough?”
William shook his head, “No, I’m $10 short, wait though, I can get it. Can you hold this for me?”
“Sure, how long?”
“Just for a few minutes. Can I keep the swords here, too? I just need to return something.”
“Sure, that’ll be fine.”
“Great,” William said hurrying out.
He was back in a few minutes, having returned the colored pencils to the bookstore, and paid for the dress.
The girl found a long flat box and put the dress inside.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
8:00PM
Yesterday, had not only been the last day of school for Montessori, but also their second fencing lesson.
After an early, celebratory dinner tonight at Edna’s, Buffy and William had spent the rest of the evening cleaning up the loft in the barn, so that they could practice up there.
William, on his hands and knees, carefully measured out their ‘fencing area.’ He used chalk to outline the dimensions, which were 10’ x 15’.
“That ought to do it,” he said, rising up and wiping the chalk dust on his jeans.
“Yep, looks good,” Buffy agreed.
“Now, I need you to close your eyes for a minute,” William said.
She looked at him, and saw that he was nearly hopping from foot to foot in excitement.
“Why? What are you up to?”
He walked over to her and put his hands on her shoulders, “It’s a surprise, luv. Now, will you please close your eyes?”
“Okay, okay! Sheesh!” she said, but did as she was asked.
She heard him rustling around in the corner where they’d pushed all the stuff from the middle of the room last evening.
“No peeking!” he said, seeing her head turn his way, eyes squinting under lids that threatened to open any second.
“Okay!”
After hearing him rustling about a few more moments, she heard his footsteps coming towards her.
“Now you can open your eyes.”
Buffy opened her eyes and her jaw fell open as she looked at William standing there, holding the 2 sabres and the two longswords.
“Holy shit,” she swore softly, “h.?” .?”
He smiled, please with her reaction, “Well, you know I went to campus to get my books and pay tuition today, while you were at Montessori, cleaning up your room and doing grades, right?”
She nodded.
“Well, on the way, I was thinking about what we would use for fencing. Remember when the instructor had mentioned old pool cues? Well, I remembered he’d said that the Goodwill Store might have some old ones, so I today when I passed it by, I stopped in and bought up all they had,” he said, pointing behind him.
She turned her head to look at the far wall, where she then noticed about half a dozen pool cues lined up, along with a couple of short ones.
“Wow, maybe you should’ve bought us a pool tabl go go with those,” she teased.
He grinned, “Thought of that, but unfortunately, they didn’t have one of those for $2.00 each.”
“And the swords? You get those there, too?”
“No, I’d never even thought about being able to get real swords.”
“How did you then?”
“I’m getting to it! As I said, I was on campus to pay for books and tuition, and I saw a notice for a fundraiser in the theatre department. When I read they had all sorts of weaponry, I went over there, and that’s where I got these.”
Buffy walked over to William and he handed her a sabre for her to inspect.
“It’s nice,” she said, holding it up and looking at the scrollwork on the handle.
“I got a left handed one, too.”
“That’s great,” Buffy said, smiling as she inspected the differences.
So, “Buffy said, looking up, “wanna do some fencing?”
His eyes grew large, “You don’t mean with these, do you?”
“Maybe just with those at first, until we get better,” she said, pointing to the pool cues. Although she was itching to use the real ones, she didn’t want to appear too eager, or have him get hurt by her.
He nodded, relieved. Although he knew she could probably handle herself, he didn’t want to take a chance on hurting her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
They practiced with the pool cues that evening, William reminding her of the terms they’d learned in their class.
“Remember what we our instructor said, it’s about control, rather than speed and power,” he said.
Buffy rolled her eyes, but slowed down, none-the-less. She’d never been one for learning fighting by the rules, and fencing this way just seemed almost useless to her. When she’d had to use a sword to fight for real, certainly control was an issue, but speed and power were certainly needed, too. After all, she’d been fighting super strong and super fast demons mostly, not humans.
William bested her in points that night, and they called it quits after about an hour.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
JUNE 7, 2009
SATURDAY
6:30PM
“You almost ready?” William called from the living room. “Movie starts in about an hour.”
“I know, don’t worry, we’ve got plenty of time,” Buffy called back. They were going to grab a quick bite to eat in town, then go to second of the summer series of ‘free’ movies at the library, or rather the library sponsored outdoor movies at the adjacent park. Last week they’d showed Field of Dreams, which left all the men in the audience, with tears in their eyes. This week was sure to do the same to the women, as the movie was Gone with the Wind.
“I’m going to go put the lounge chairs and some blankets in the car,” he called.
“I don’t think it’s going to be cold.”
“Just in case,” he called oas sas she h the the back door open and close.
She had just finished putting on the finishing touches to her makeup and was now looking for her other shoe.
“If you were my shoe, where would you be? Ah, you’d be under the bed out of sight, wouldn’t you?” she asked, getting down on her knees to look.
The shoe was there, but there was also a long box, almost the length of the bed she hadn’t seen before. Curious, she pulled it out and was just about to take off the lid, when she heard William calling to her.
“I’ll be out in the car.”
“Okay, be right there,” she said, reluctantly pushing the mystery box back underneath the bed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
10:30PM
“I’m going to go change,” Buffy told William, going into the bedroom, with the intention of putting on her nightgown.
They had been home for about half an hour, having stopped for soft serve ice cream, after the movie. Her treat, she’d insisted, finding out how William had spent all his money on their new, humble collection of swords and pool cues.
Now, after dinner, popcorn, candy, and ice cream, she was eager to get out of anything with a zipper.
She sat on the bed to pull off her socks and suddenly remembered the box under the bed. She quietly went to the door and closed it the inch or so it was still open, then came back, knelt down, and pulled it out. The box had flap inserts on three sides; she pulled them out and opened the lid, gasping, as she saw the yellow satin dress, all lacey and delicate. She took it out of the box and walked over to the mirror, holding it up to herself.
“I’m like Scarlett O’Hara!” she said, grinning as she looked at her reflection. “Well, more Victorian, than the Old South, I suppose.”
She went into the bathroom and slipped the dress on. As she was reaching around trying to do up the back, she heard the bedroom door open, the sounds of drawers being opened and shut, then the bedroom door being shut again.
Not hearing anything else, she opened the bathroom door a crack and looked out. William wasn’t there. She walked over to the mirror again, and admired her reflection. The back of dre dress still needed to be pulled together properly. She struggled with it, and finally got most of it fastened. After brushing her hair back from her face, Buffy opened the top dresser drawer and took out a couple of long, pearlescent hair clips and affixed them to her hair. She pirouetted a couple of times in fron the the mirror, before going out to the living room.
William was over at the desk, rather than the couch when she caut out of the bedroom.
She looked at him, expectantly, waiting for him to notice her.
Finally he turned around, his jaw dropping open, as he saw her.
“Um...Iook what I found.”
He still stared at her, his mouth suddenly gone dry.
She was beginning to feel uncomfortable about the whole thing, “I’m sorry. I know I shouldn’t have opened the box. See, I was looking for my shoe earlier and when I saw the box...”
“You look beautiful,” he said, standing up.
“I do? Do I look like...where did it come from?”
“Huh?”
“The dress?”
“Oh...I...” he cleared his throat, making eye contact, finally, “I got it the same time I got the swords. They were selling costumes and I saw this and...you like it? I was going to give it to you, but then I thought that maybe...” he stopped, shrugging.
“Maybe what?” she asked.
“I don’t know...that maybe it was just presumptuous of me to think to buy something like this for you.”
She smiled and walked over to him, “Why? Did you think I’d think you didn’t like the way I dress normally? You do, don’t you?” she asked, her face serious.
“Oh, God yes, Elizabeth. It has nothing to do with the way you dress now. I love the way you dress, the way...”
“Relax William! I’m just teasing you, okay?”
He let out a sigh. “You like it, then?”
“What’s not to like? It’s lovely; it’s the nicest, girliest thing I’ve had on in...Well, just about forever,” she said, discounting that episode at Halloween where she had rented a similar, although possessed dress, which actually turned her into a simpering, helpless little girl.
Come to think of it, Spike had tried to take advantage of that situation. Was it something about these dresses that inspired either chivalrousness or murder and mayhem? What a full circle they’d come!
She smiled slightly, wondering what it would inspire this time.
“What?” he asked, seeing her expression.
“Nothing, just remembering something. I couldn’t get the back of it all done up, would you?” she asked, turning around.
She felt his hands gently take hold of the drawstrings of the dress and pull them in.
“Can you breathe?”
“Yeah, a little.”
He let them out a bit, “Better?”
She nodded and he finished. She turned around and stepped back from him so he could see her better.
“Swords and girly dresses,” she said, “quite a gift combo.”
He nodded, practically rendered speechless by the vision that was her; “I guess so. Um...could I...wait here a minute,” he told her and went into the bedroom. He was back a few minutes later and showed her drawing pad of paper and charcoal he’d bought.
She smiled at him; “You want to draw me?”
“I would; very much. If you don’t mind, that is, don’t know if I’ll even be able to, I’m awfully rusty at it,” he rambled, nervously.
She beamed at him, “I have faith in your abilities, I do,” she said.
He didn’t answer, but went to get the cherrywood chair, with maroon cushioned seats, which was in the spare bedroom. He placed it off center in front of the fireplace and motioned for her to sit, facing the couch.
He sat down, turning over the cover of the drawing pad. He took out a couple of the charcoal pencils, wishing he hadn’t had to take back the colored ones. Oh well, he could always purchase them later and add the color of her dress, he thought.
William looked up at her and studied the composition of the way she was sitting, then got up.
“I’d like to do this a bit differently, if you’re not too tired.”
“I’m okay,” she said, and got up when he motioned her to.
He moved the chair so that the back of it was to the side, but had her sit still facing him, only this time, he draped her arm over the low back of the chair.
He moved back and took a seat, still looking at her.
“Could you move your arm a little forward?”
“Like this?” she asked, moving her fingers closer to the front of her dress.
“A little farther back.”
Buffy moved her hand, so that it now was in front of her shoulder as it rested partly on the arm of the chair.
He got up and walked over to her, bending her elbow slightly outward and down, so that her hand was a bit higher and her thumb rested on her clavicle, her fingers spread slightly outward.
“Are you okay with this? It’s not too awkward, is it?”
“It’s okay,” she said, smiling. “I’ll let you know if anything starts going numb.”
He bent down as if he was going to kiss her, and she lifted her head to meet his lips.
“There, just like that,” he said, grinning.
“Hey, that’s cheating!”
William just winked at her and sat back down on the couch. “Stay just like that, luv,” he said to her.
He studied her for a long while, his fingers jiggling the charcoal back and forth between his fingers. Just when she was thinking he was going to reposition her again, he finastilstilled his fingers and brought the charcoal to the page.
William took a deep breath, then put the charcoal pencil down on the spot he would start the drawing. Looking back and forth from Elizabeth to the paper, he began. First he made the outlines of her form and dress, then went back and filled in the details of her face, the most important thing. If he started on the details of the dress, but couldn’t capture her, then it would be for naught.
It took him almost 40 minutes to be satisfied by his portrait of her. He smiled when he was done.
“You can relax your face muscles now,” he told her.
“Whew!” she said, but still kept her pose, in keeping to the spirit of his concentration.
The details of the dress, background, and chair only took another 15 minutes.
He put down the pencil, now much shorter than when he started out, and studied it. He nodded slightly, hoping she’d be somewhat pleased at his attempts.
William looked at her, and saw her questioning glance towards the picture.
He nodded, “It’s done. You can relax now.”
She demurely stretched out, then rose to come over to the couch, but he met her half way.
He had the pad tipped towards him, almost protectively. She smiled up at him encouragingly, as she came to stand next to him. Slowly, he lowered it so that she could see, keeping his eyes on her face to see her initial, honest expression.
Buffy looked at it, then glanced at him, then bacwn twn to the drawing. She heard him let out a little breath. She was awe struck now, just like she had been over six years ago, that he could draw her so beautiful, with so much love. She told him so.
“It’s like it’s not me, it can’t be me...”
“Why not?”
“It’s...she’s, I mean I look too good and pure.”
“It’s the way I see you, when I look at you through my eyes.”
She shook her head, biting her lower lip, thinking of all the things in her life that she wasn’t particularly proud of, not the least of how she’d once treated him, of all her shortcomings. She wondered how he’d feel, if he knew the very vast ocean of omissions she had them living under.
He took her chin in her hand; so she was looking at him, “That doesn’t mean that I don’t ‘see’ you for you, Elizabeth. It doesn’t mean that I don’t love all the part of you, which aren’t perfect, or that I don’t know that they exist.”
She let out a little short laugh, “Thank goodness for that!”
“It’s because of all the little things, because and despite of them all that I love you, you know?
“I do,” she said, looking into his sincere blue eyes. “Thank you.”
“It’s like writing.”
“How? What is?”
“Drawing. Think of Shakespeare,” he said.
She rolled her eyes.
“No, seriously. Here’s a man who had a tumultuous personal life, with many failings of his own, yet in his writings, he transcended that. Mozart is another one, shunned by the royal court as a clown, yet he makes this perfect music. Art can be like that. Neither the artist or the subject has to really be perfect, but you strive to transcend your own status, and that of the subject’s with your work.”
“What about realism?” Buffy asked.
“Well, even in that, you’re looking to show a perfect realism, even if it’s portrait of pain and suffering.”
“It’s the dress, isn’t it?” she asked grinning.
“The dress? Piffle!”
“Piffle?”
“Yes, piffle! The dress doesn’t make you; you make the dress! Or for that matter, anything else you wear,” he said, and meant it.
Was a time, he thought, he could remember being so attracted to women in their lovely dresses, wondering what mysteries lay underneath them. Of course, now he doubted those memories. Still, he realized that as lovely as Elizabeth looked in such a fancy gown, it really wasn’t about the gown at all.
In fact, something about that dress had been bothering him, ever since he saw her in it tonight; something he tried to push away in order to do justice to drawing her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
She kissed him as they stood there in the living room, and it wasn’t long before they went into the bedroom.
Ever since she’d seen the dress and put it on, Buffy had thought that it must be some sort of fantasy for Victorian William to see her in it. Subsequently, how he’d enjoy taking his time divesting her of it. She was happily secure in what she felt, was her part in his fantasy. Truth be told, she was looking forward to enjoying it!
Shows what she knew about his fantasies, she thought ruefully. Once in the bedroom, he’d come up behind her and kissed her neck, making her feel all weak in the knees, all quivery, when suddenly she sensed him freeze up. He’d tried to cover, but after that he was almost brusque in his manner in getting the dress off of her. To make matters worse, as if a switch had been thrown, he stopped what they were doin orn order to put the dress bacto tto the box and shove it underneath the bed, as he mumbled something about it not getting wrinkled. It sure threw a damper on her libido!
She felt a pang of rejection, somehow tied to that dress, and it made her angry too, not knowing if she’d done something wrong or if it was something coming from him, but she was going to ask him what the deal was!
Buffy turned over on her side, away from him in order to hide her feelings.
However, as soon as he was finished with the box, like some Christmas commercial; clap on, clap off, his manner changed back and before she could stay hurt or act aloof, he took her in his arms and kissed her so sweetly, and so thoroughly, she melted into his embrace.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was only a flicker of memory of the nightmare he’d had, but one that stopped him cold in his tracks, in this case, kissing Elizabeth’s neck. A yellow dress, a staircase, her neck, blood, savagery. He’d pulled back abruptly, and could feel her disappointment in response to his actions.
It was that bloody dress, dream metaphor aside.
He’d hurriedly taken it off her, knowing that he should have taken the opportunity to do so slowly and seductively. Now it only served to remind him of something he was desperately trying to swallow down before it swallowed him whole, causing him another mental breakdown. Neither seemed as good an option of just getting the damned thing away from his sight and anything to do with Elizabeth.
He could feel her hurt as he hurriedly shoved it back into it’s box and under the bed and once that was done, he took a few calming breaths and turned all of his attention to making this latest display of distress up to her.
Taking his time, he kissed her for a very long while, letting the sparks of their desire rekindle, until she was moaning against him. He pulled her atop him, continuing to kiss her as they ground against each other.
“I love you so very much,” he said, pulling her face up to look into her hazel green eyes, “you know that, don’t you? Know that I’d do anything for you? That I’d never hurt you?”
She looked down at him wondering where that had come from so suddenly, his voice having an almost desperate quality.
“I know William, I know,” she said, kissing him, “I love you, too.”
He made love to her slowly and tenderly many times that night, making her needs a priority before his own, until she almost had remind him to give in to the pleasure, too.
Buffy looked down at him as she sat on his cock. His glazed over eyes were partly shut; his dark eyelashes just fluttering open when he felt her still her movements. She reached behind them and caressed his balls, which were already hard and firm, but became more so by her touch. He moaned and tried to put his fingers between them to rub her clit, but she pushed his hand aside.
She straightened up and came down to kiss him, “I don’t need to be the multiple orgasm queen tonight, you know,” she said, her hands on his head, finger in his rumpled curls.
“Huh?”
“It’s your turn, William,” she said, then added in a low voice, “besides, you know how much I love to feel how hard you get inside me, right before you come.”
“Yeah?” he asked as he looked, smiling lazily, and at the same time starting to move in rhythm underneath her.
“Yeah,” her voice came out huskily, as her body responded to his, and she felt another orgasm of her own building. “Some...some....times, yours starts at the end of mine, and it feels....oh God...completes mine, me...oh....”
“Like now?” he asked, kissing her, his tongue hungry inside her mouth.
“Uh-huh,” she squeaked out, as his hands moved her hips to meet his thrusts.”
“Oh...oh...oh....” she gasped as she felt herself start to come, then felt him harden in intensity within her, and her pleasure increased for even longer, until she finally felt him shudder and heard him cry out. They went for a few seconds longer, until she collapsed onto him.
They turned over on their sides, still entwined.
“Love you,” he sighed, kissing her.
“Love you, too.”
END CHAPTER 130
MAY 26, 2009
MONDAY - LABOR DAY
11:00AM
"Maybe I shouldn't take classes this summer," William mused, taking a sip of his lemonade.
They were sitting outside having lunch around the new, green, plastic table they'd just bought for the backyard that weekend. They’d also bought matching chairs, and a white umbrella with a green leaves print on it. They'd seen much nicer patio tables, with comfortable, cushioned chairs, and matching chaise lounges. Reluctantly though, they’d agreed it would be in the best interest of saving money for their wedding, to go for something simple for now.
"Why do you say that?" Buffy asked, taking a bite of her egg salad sandwich.
"Classes are during the day, I won't be able to work during that time, luv," he said looking worried.
"I thought Mrs. Carpello told you that she'd work around your schedule."
"Well, with classes starting at 8:00 until noon, and 1:00 - 4:00, I'd have to go there at like 5:30am, which I don't much fancy at all, and leave by 7:30, or work there in the evening. Either way, I won't be able to work full-time like I was. Oh, and the library did say I could either work there from 5pm till 8pm, or just on Saturdays, but then I can't help out Edna. Or if I help her on Sundays instead, that means we practically won't have any time together at all this summer."
"You know you don't have to work, right? We've got enough money to get by for a few months, just from the interest on some of the investments and it's not like I won't be working, and..."
"No!" he said, shaking his head.
"William," Buffy said, putting her hand on top his, "I know it makes you uncomfortable doing it that way, but you're going to school so eventually you'll be able to get a job which will better suit your talents; something that’ll be rewarding, and with a good salary, right?"
He nodded his head, emphatically. There was no way that he wasn't going to be able to provide for himself and Elizabeth, plus any children they might have in the future.
"Then you have to, rather, we have to make some sacrifices along the way. For you, if you want to take both courses in Summer 1, you're going to either make yourself crazy trying to go to school, plus trying to go to work at the crack of dawn, then until sunset. And don't forget about homework, you're taking two, normally 18 week courses in about 4 weeks, and there's still going to be a lot of homework. Plus, even if I am working, which is only going to be about 4 hours a day, I do want to spend some of my summer with you," she said, looking at him.
William sighed, "Suppose I could just take one course each summer session. That way I could work and go to school, and still have time to smell the roses, as the saying goes. Or you," he said, smiling.
"Yeah."
"It's just I feel so behind in everything, since I've forgotten so much; want to get back that which I've lost as quickly as I can."
"I know, and you will. I have no doubts about it."
He smiled at her, glad that she was surer of him, than he was of himself. Her faith in him gave him more strength than he could ever express in words, at least ones he would dare read or sayud. ud.
"Suppose I could take a course onlinoo.\oo."
"Yeah, you could do that, and you certainly wouldn't have to finish it in 4 weeks time."
"Maybe I'll do that too, then."
"Oh, and as for Edna, I forgot to tell you, she mentioned that Wally would be staying up here again for the summer, so you probably won't have to worry about helping her on Saturdays, since he'll be there."
William nodded, "Ah, that's good. Be good for her to have him around all the time, still, she might need my help somet." ."
"Yeah, she probably will," she said, as her fingers played with his. William and Edna had a relationship, very much like family; both being concerned about each other's welfare. Well, it had spanned more than 50 years, even though neither of them knew it at present. Edna had been the only person outside of her circle of friends who knew how deeply she had mourned for Spike when she'd moved up here, how much she'd loved him. And at least with Edna, she'd never had to apologize or feel defensive about her feelings.
"We'll work something out," he said, "besides, saw another class I t I thought we might take, but don't know if you'll like the idea of it at all."
"Really? What's that."
"Fencing," he said. ”Was a notice at the library the other day."
"Sounds like fun," she said.
"You're interested then? Good. They're holding it in the high school's gym on Monday and Wednesday evenings from 7 - 8. Think it starts next week, if you want to sign up. It costs $50 each person, but they provide all the equipment.”
"I actually had a class in it, back in school, then again at Oxford. All the young men took it, so it seemed. Very respectable in my..." he stopped, just short of making a fool of himself, by making it sound like he went to school in a different time. A different century even, the way his warped memory problems would have him believing.
"You got graded on it?"
"Not exactly like academic courses, but we were expected to take it or something like it," he said. "I think it's even in my transcripts, under extracurricular, or some such heading," he said.
"I know a little about it, too," Buffy said, holding her breath.
"You do?"
"Um, yeah. You sort of showed me some moves, back in Sunnydale," she lied, figuring it was the easiest of all possible ways to tell him that she knew how to use a sword. One of many sharp, pointy objects she was all too familiar with.
"I did?"
She nodded, "Well, not exactly with masks and all the en garde stuff, more like informal. Sometimes we used long sticks," she said, studying his face to gage his reaction.
"And other times?"
"The real thing...The Magic Box used to carry those things, along with new age-y stuff. And books,e ree remembered to add.
He looked at her, "But without the masks and en gardes?"
"Uh-huh," she said, getting a bit worried.
"Hmm," he said, looking at her as he pondered this latest bit of information about her and himself. He couldn’t imagine teaching her to fence, let alone doing so without proper form and safety. Then again, from what he could gather, he was quite a bit different from what he remembered himself being like, or what he felt he was like now.
“That doesn’t seem to have been a very wise thing to do,” he said, looking at her seriously, “I didn’t hurt you, did I?”
“No, you were careful.”
“Good.”
She was so lost in her thought, that it came as a complete surprise to her, when she looked up and saw a half-smirk, half-grin vying for prominence on his lips.
“What?” she asked.
"Were you as good at fencing, as you are at sparring?"
"Guess I'll let you be the judge of that," she said grinning back, a bit relieved.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
JUNE 5, 2009
THURSDAY
11:15AM
William walked into the bookstore happily, he checked his backpack into a free locker, then walked to the back of the store, giving the clerk the list of books he needed. After he’d gotten them, he went to get some notebooks, and other essentials.
As he was walking down one aisle, he saw a shelf full of art supplies. On a whim, remembering the picture Elizabeth had given him in the hospital of his ‘fantasy’ drawing of their getting married, he decided to purchase a medium sized drawing pad, some colored pencils, and charcoals. He smiled, satisfied as he went up to the counter to pay for his purchases, excited to get home and give in to some artistic expression, which he didn’t realize until just then, he’d been missing.
William collected his backpack from the locker, and put his new books and art supplies into it. As he was walking out, he saw a notice taped to the inside of the door. It read:
Theatre Department Fund Raiser
June 5 & 6th, Noon - 5:00PM
Come Ye! Come Ye! All those interested in period pieces, Halloween costumes, or dress-up!
Selling all costumes, props, and weaponry, used in last year’s theatrical productions in order to raise funds for the coming year.
Cash only.
William looked in his wallet. “Great,” he said, noting he only had about half of his meager paycheck left, after cashing it this morning and paying for books. Still...
He wandered over to the building where the arts and theatre classes were held and located the auditorium where the sale was being held. He tried the door, but it was locked. Glancing at his watch he realized he was a half-hour early. He decided it would be best to wait here, rather than to leave and return, so he sat down against the wall, and unzipped his backpack and began looking at one of his new books. Surprisingly, nobody else came while he was waiting, and he was beginning to think that perhaps he’d gotten the time wrong. Just as he was about to give run back over to the bookstore to double-check his information, the door was opened by a young woman wearing a white T-shirt, with black lettering, which said, ‘Theater Geek,’ o. S. Smiling at him, she motioned him in. He rose and followed her inside the auditorium. There on the stage, were all the costumes and props. He looked around for a few moments, then finally spotted the swords, leaning up against the right wall, next to the rows of seats.
He walked over to them and whistled softly. Most were better than the ones they had at class, having much more detail and heft to them. He picked up a broadsword sabre, and seeing nobody about, did a couple of cuts and thrusts with it.
“You look like you know what you’re doing,” said an older man who appeared at William’s side.
“Ah...well, a bit,” William said, embarrassed. “Just started taking a fencing class.”
“Must be a quick study then, you seem to have the moves down.”
“Well, took one back in...before, so I suppose something stuck,” William said, humbly.
“In case you’re wondering, only the blunt edged epees were used on stage, the rest came from my own collection. I’m just donating these to help with the fundraising.”
William nodded.
“So, you’d like to have one of your own then?”
“Actually, need a couple of them, I’m taking the class with my...wife.”
“Well, that’s neat, not enough women in the sport; never could get my wife and girls interested...but better be careful arming the missthouthough.”
It took William a couple of moments to realize what he meant, then he grinned a little, “I don’t think I have to worry about that, besides, if she wanted to hurt me, I doubt she’d need a sword.”
The man laughed sympathetically the way men do around each other, when no women arout.out.
“Could you please tell me the cost of these?”
“Well, today’s your lucky day, I’m selling them for $25.00 each, which is a real steal.”
William decided on 2 sabres, because one of them was for a left-handed person, then debated if he should get the 2 theatrical epées or 2 Italian longswords.
He chose the longswords.
He took out his wallet and paid the man $100.00.
That left him with just barely enough money to buy gas for the next 2 weeks.
As he was walking past the costumes though, his eye caught sight of one of the dresses that were for sale. He walked up the stairs to the stage, carrying his swords and walked over to examine it. It was a long yellow satin gown, with white lace at the bottom and up the middle of the sleeves. He wasn’t sure why it seemed so familiar to him, but all of a sudden he had an inexplicable urge to buy it for Elizabeth.
“How much is this?” he asked the girl who had opened the door for him.“It’“It’s $25.00,” she said.
He set down the swords and looked in his wallet again. He only had $15.00 left.
“Drats,” he swore.
“Not enough?”
William shook his head, “No, I’m $10 short, wait though, I can get it. Can you hold this for me?”
“Sure, how long?”
“Just for a few minutes. Can I keep the swords here, too? I just need to return something.”
“Sure, that’ll be fine.”
“Great,” William said hurrying out.
He was back in a few minutes, having returned the colored pencils to the bookstore, and paid for the dress.
The girl found a long flat box and put the dress inside.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
8:00PM
Yesterday, had not only been the last day of school for Montessori, but also their second fencing lesson.
After an early, celebratory dinner tonight at Edna’s, Buffy and William had spent the rest of the evening cleaning up the loft in the barn, so that they could practice up there.
William, on his hands and knees, carefully measured out their ‘fencing area.’ He used chalk to outline the dimensions, which were 10’ x 15’.
“That ought to do it,” he said, rising up and wiping the chalk dust on his jeans.
“Yep, looks good,” Buffy agreed.
“Now, I need you to close your eyes for a minute,” William said.
She looked at him, and saw that he was nearly hopping from foot to foot in excitement.
“Why? What are you up to?”
He walked over to her and put his hands on her shoulders, “It’s a surprise, luv. Now, will you please close your eyes?”
“Okay, okay! Sheesh!” she said, but did as she was asked.
She heard him rustling around in the corner where they’d pushed all the stuff from the middle of the room last evening.
“No peeking!” he said, seeing her head turn his way, eyes squinting under lids that threatened to open any second.
“Okay!”
After hearing him rustling about a few more moments, she heard his footsteps coming towards her.
“Now you can open your eyes.”
Buffy opened her eyes and her jaw fell open as she looked at William standing there, holding the 2 sabres and the two longswords.
“Holy shit,” she swore softly, “h.?” .?”
He smiled, please with her reaction, “Well, you know I went to campus to get my books and pay tuition today, while you were at Montessori, cleaning up your room and doing grades, right?”
She nodded.
“Well, on the way, I was thinking about what we would use for fencing. Remember when the instructor had mentioned old pool cues? Well, I remembered he’d said that the Goodwill Store might have some old ones, so I today when I passed it by, I stopped in and bought up all they had,” he said, pointing behind him.
She turned her head to look at the far wall, where she then noticed about half a dozen pool cues lined up, along with a couple of short ones.
“Wow, maybe you should’ve bought us a pool tabl go go with those,” she teased.
He grinned, “Thought of that, but unfortunately, they didn’t have one of those for $2.00 each.”
“And the swords? You get those there, too?”
“No, I’d never even thought about being able to get real swords.”
“How did you then?”
“I’m getting to it! As I said, I was on campus to pay for books and tuition, and I saw a notice for a fundraiser in the theatre department. When I read they had all sorts of weaponry, I went over there, and that’s where I got these.”
Buffy walked over to William and he handed her a sabre for her to inspect.
“It’s nice,” she said, holding it up and looking at the scrollwork on the handle.
“I got a left handed one, too.”
“That’s great,” Buffy said, smiling as she inspected the differences.
So, “Buffy said, looking up, “wanna do some fencing?”
His eyes grew large, “You don’t mean with these, do you?”
“Maybe just with those at first, until we get better,” she said, pointing to the pool cues. Although she was itching to use the real ones, she didn’t want to appear too eager, or have him get hurt by her.
He nodded, relieved. Although he knew she could probably handle herself, he didn’t want to take a chance on hurting her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
They practiced with the pool cues that evening, William reminding her of the terms they’d learned in their class.
“Remember what we our instructor said, it’s about control, rather than speed and power,” he said.
Buffy rolled her eyes, but slowed down, none-the-less. She’d never been one for learning fighting by the rules, and fencing this way just seemed almost useless to her. When she’d had to use a sword to fight for real, certainly control was an issue, but speed and power were certainly needed, too. After all, she’d been fighting super strong and super fast demons mostly, not humans.
William bested her in points that night, and they called it quits after about an hour.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
JUNE 7, 2009
SATURDAY
6:30PM
“You almost ready?” William called from the living room. “Movie starts in about an hour.”
“I know, don’t worry, we’ve got plenty of time,” Buffy called back. They were going to grab a quick bite to eat in town, then go to second of the summer series of ‘free’ movies at the library, or rather the library sponsored outdoor movies at the adjacent park. Last week they’d showed Field of Dreams, which left all the men in the audience, with tears in their eyes. This week was sure to do the same to the women, as the movie was Gone with the Wind.
“I’m going to go put the lounge chairs and some blankets in the car,” he called.
“I don’t think it’s going to be cold.”
“Just in case,” he called oas sas she h the the back door open and close.
She had just finished putting on the finishing touches to her makeup and was now looking for her other shoe.
“If you were my shoe, where would you be? Ah, you’d be under the bed out of sight, wouldn’t you?” she asked, getting down on her knees to look.
The shoe was there, but there was also a long box, almost the length of the bed she hadn’t seen before. Curious, she pulled it out and was just about to take off the lid, when she heard William calling to her.
“I’ll be out in the car.”
“Okay, be right there,” she said, reluctantly pushing the mystery box back underneath the bed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
10:30PM
“I’m going to go change,” Buffy told William, going into the bedroom, with the intention of putting on her nightgown.
They had been home for about half an hour, having stopped for soft serve ice cream, after the movie. Her treat, she’d insisted, finding out how William had spent all his money on their new, humble collection of swords and pool cues.
Now, after dinner, popcorn, candy, and ice cream, she was eager to get out of anything with a zipper.
She sat on the bed to pull off her socks and suddenly remembered the box under the bed. She quietly went to the door and closed it the inch or so it was still open, then came back, knelt down, and pulled it out. The box had flap inserts on three sides; she pulled them out and opened the lid, gasping, as she saw the yellow satin dress, all lacey and delicate. She took it out of the box and walked over to the mirror, holding it up to herself.
“I’m like Scarlett O’Hara!” she said, grinning as she looked at her reflection. “Well, more Victorian, than the Old South, I suppose.”
She went into the bathroom and slipped the dress on. As she was reaching around trying to do up the back, she heard the bedroom door open, the sounds of drawers being opened and shut, then the bedroom door being shut again.
Not hearing anything else, she opened the bathroom door a crack and looked out. William wasn’t there. She walked over to the mirror again, and admired her reflection. The back of dre dress still needed to be pulled together properly. She struggled with it, and finally got most of it fastened. After brushing her hair back from her face, Buffy opened the top dresser drawer and took out a couple of long, pearlescent hair clips and affixed them to her hair. She pirouetted a couple of times in fron the the mirror, before going out to the living room.
William was over at the desk, rather than the couch when she caut out of the bedroom.
She looked at him, expectantly, waiting for him to notice her.
Finally he turned around, his jaw dropping open, as he saw her.
“Um...Iook what I found.”
He still stared at her, his mouth suddenly gone dry.
She was beginning to feel uncomfortable about the whole thing, “I’m sorry. I know I shouldn’t have opened the box. See, I was looking for my shoe earlier and when I saw the box...”
“You look beautiful,” he said, standing up.
“I do? Do I look like...where did it come from?”
“Huh?”
“The dress?”
“Oh...I...” he cleared his throat, making eye contact, finally, “I got it the same time I got the swords. They were selling costumes and I saw this and...you like it? I was going to give it to you, but then I thought that maybe...” he stopped, shrugging.
“Maybe what?” she asked.
“I don’t know...that maybe it was just presumptuous of me to think to buy something like this for you.”
She smiled and walked over to him, “Why? Did you think I’d think you didn’t like the way I dress normally? You do, don’t you?” she asked, her face serious.
“Oh, God yes, Elizabeth. It has nothing to do with the way you dress now. I love the way you dress, the way...”
“Relax William! I’m just teasing you, okay?”
He let out a sigh. “You like it, then?”
“What’s not to like? It’s lovely; it’s the nicest, girliest thing I’ve had on in...Well, just about forever,” she said, discounting that episode at Halloween where she had rented a similar, although possessed dress, which actually turned her into a simpering, helpless little girl.
Come to think of it, Spike had tried to take advantage of that situation. Was it something about these dresses that inspired either chivalrousness or murder and mayhem? What a full circle they’d come!
She smiled slightly, wondering what it would inspire this time.
“What?” he asked, seeing her expression.
“Nothing, just remembering something. I couldn’t get the back of it all done up, would you?” she asked, turning around.
She felt his hands gently take hold of the drawstrings of the dress and pull them in.
“Can you breathe?”
“Yeah, a little.”
He let them out a bit, “Better?”
She nodded and he finished. She turned around and stepped back from him so he could see her better.
“Swords and girly dresses,” she said, “quite a gift combo.”
He nodded, practically rendered speechless by the vision that was her; “I guess so. Um...could I...wait here a minute,” he told her and went into the bedroom. He was back a few minutes later and showed her drawing pad of paper and charcoal he’d bought.
She smiled at him; “You want to draw me?”
“I would; very much. If you don’t mind, that is, don’t know if I’ll even be able to, I’m awfully rusty at it,” he rambled, nervously.
She beamed at him, “I have faith in your abilities, I do,” she said.
He didn’t answer, but went to get the cherrywood chair, with maroon cushioned seats, which was in the spare bedroom. He placed it off center in front of the fireplace and motioned for her to sit, facing the couch.
He sat down, turning over the cover of the drawing pad. He took out a couple of the charcoal pencils, wishing he hadn’t had to take back the colored ones. Oh well, he could always purchase them later and add the color of her dress, he thought.
William looked up at her and studied the composition of the way she was sitting, then got up.
“I’d like to do this a bit differently, if you’re not too tired.”
“I’m okay,” she said, and got up when he motioned her to.
He moved the chair so that the back of it was to the side, but had her sit still facing him, only this time, he draped her arm over the low back of the chair.
He moved back and took a seat, still looking at her.
“Could you move your arm a little forward?”
“Like this?” she asked, moving her fingers closer to the front of her dress.
“A little farther back.”
Buffy moved her hand, so that it now was in front of her shoulder as it rested partly on the arm of the chair.
He got up and walked over to her, bending her elbow slightly outward and down, so that her hand was a bit higher and her thumb rested on her clavicle, her fingers spread slightly outward.
“Are you okay with this? It’s not too awkward, is it?”
“It’s okay,” she said, smiling. “I’ll let you know if anything starts going numb.”
He bent down as if he was going to kiss her, and she lifted her head to meet his lips.
“There, just like that,” he said, grinning.
“Hey, that’s cheating!”
William just winked at her and sat back down on the couch. “Stay just like that, luv,” he said to her.
He studied her for a long while, his fingers jiggling the charcoal back and forth between his fingers. Just when she was thinking he was going to reposition her again, he finastilstilled his fingers and brought the charcoal to the page.
William took a deep breath, then put the charcoal pencil down on the spot he would start the drawing. Looking back and forth from Elizabeth to the paper, he began. First he made the outlines of her form and dress, then went back and filled in the details of her face, the most important thing. If he started on the details of the dress, but couldn’t capture her, then it would be for naught.
It took him almost 40 minutes to be satisfied by his portrait of her. He smiled when he was done.
“You can relax your face muscles now,” he told her.
“Whew!” she said, but still kept her pose, in keeping to the spirit of his concentration.
The details of the dress, background, and chair only took another 15 minutes.
He put down the pencil, now much shorter than when he started out, and studied it. He nodded slightly, hoping she’d be somewhat pleased at his attempts.
William looked at her, and saw her questioning glance towards the picture.
He nodded, “It’s done. You can relax now.”
She demurely stretched out, then rose to come over to the couch, but he met her half way.
He had the pad tipped towards him, almost protectively. She smiled up at him encouragingly, as she came to stand next to him. Slowly, he lowered it so that she could see, keeping his eyes on her face to see her initial, honest expression.
Buffy looked at it, then glanced at him, then bacwn twn to the drawing. She heard him let out a little breath. She was awe struck now, just like she had been over six years ago, that he could draw her so beautiful, with so much love. She told him so.
“It’s like it’s not me, it can’t be me...”
“Why not?”
“It’s...she’s, I mean I look too good and pure.”
“It’s the way I see you, when I look at you through my eyes.”
She shook her head, biting her lower lip, thinking of all the things in her life that she wasn’t particularly proud of, not the least of how she’d once treated him, of all her shortcomings. She wondered how he’d feel, if he knew the very vast ocean of omissions she had them living under.
He took her chin in her hand; so she was looking at him, “That doesn’t mean that I don’t ‘see’ you for you, Elizabeth. It doesn’t mean that I don’t love all the part of you, which aren’t perfect, or that I don’t know that they exist.”
She let out a little short laugh, “Thank goodness for that!”
“It’s because of all the little things, because and despite of them all that I love you, you know?
“I do,” she said, looking into his sincere blue eyes. “Thank you.”
“It’s like writing.”
“How? What is?”
“Drawing. Think of Shakespeare,” he said.
She rolled her eyes.
“No, seriously. Here’s a man who had a tumultuous personal life, with many failings of his own, yet in his writings, he transcended that. Mozart is another one, shunned by the royal court as a clown, yet he makes this perfect music. Art can be like that. Neither the artist or the subject has to really be perfect, but you strive to transcend your own status, and that of the subject’s with your work.”
“What about realism?” Buffy asked.
“Well, even in that, you’re looking to show a perfect realism, even if it’s portrait of pain and suffering.”
“It’s the dress, isn’t it?” she asked grinning.
“The dress? Piffle!”
“Piffle?”
“Yes, piffle! The dress doesn’t make you; you make the dress! Or for that matter, anything else you wear,” he said, and meant it.
Was a time, he thought, he could remember being so attracted to women in their lovely dresses, wondering what mysteries lay underneath them. Of course, now he doubted those memories. Still, he realized that as lovely as Elizabeth looked in such a fancy gown, it really wasn’t about the gown at all.
In fact, something about that dress had been bothering him, ever since he saw her in it tonight; something he tried to push away in order to do justice to drawing her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
She kissed him as they stood there in the living room, and it wasn’t long before they went into the bedroom.
Ever since she’d seen the dress and put it on, Buffy had thought that it must be some sort of fantasy for Victorian William to see her in it. Subsequently, how he’d enjoy taking his time divesting her of it. She was happily secure in what she felt, was her part in his fantasy. Truth be told, she was looking forward to enjoying it!
Shows what she knew about his fantasies, she thought ruefully. Once in the bedroom, he’d come up behind her and kissed her neck, making her feel all weak in the knees, all quivery, when suddenly she sensed him freeze up. He’d tried to cover, but after that he was almost brusque in his manner in getting the dress off of her. To make matters worse, as if a switch had been thrown, he stopped what they were doin orn order to put the dress bacto tto the box and shove it underneath the bed, as he mumbled something about it not getting wrinkled. It sure threw a damper on her libido!
She felt a pang of rejection, somehow tied to that dress, and it made her angry too, not knowing if she’d done something wrong or if it was something coming from him, but she was going to ask him what the deal was!
Buffy turned over on her side, away from him in order to hide her feelings.
However, as soon as he was finished with the box, like some Christmas commercial; clap on, clap off, his manner changed back and before she could stay hurt or act aloof, he took her in his arms and kissed her so sweetly, and so thoroughly, she melted into his embrace.
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It was only a flicker of memory of the nightmare he’d had, but one that stopped him cold in his tracks, in this case, kissing Elizabeth’s neck. A yellow dress, a staircase, her neck, blood, savagery. He’d pulled back abruptly, and could feel her disappointment in response to his actions.
It was that bloody dress, dream metaphor aside.
He’d hurriedly taken it off her, knowing that he should have taken the opportunity to do so slowly and seductively. Now it only served to remind him of something he was desperately trying to swallow down before it swallowed him whole, causing him another mental breakdown. Neither seemed as good an option of just getting the damned thing away from his sight and anything to do with Elizabeth.
He could feel her hurt as he hurriedly shoved it back into it’s box and under the bed and once that was done, he took a few calming breaths and turned all of his attention to making this latest display of distress up to her.
Taking his time, he kissed her for a very long while, letting the sparks of their desire rekindle, until she was moaning against him. He pulled her atop him, continuing to kiss her as they ground against each other.
“I love you so very much,” he said, pulling her face up to look into her hazel green eyes, “you know that, don’t you? Know that I’d do anything for you? That I’d never hurt you?”
She looked down at him wondering where that had come from so suddenly, his voice having an almost desperate quality.
“I know William, I know,” she said, kissing him, “I love you, too.”
He made love to her slowly and tenderly many times that night, making her needs a priority before his own, until she almost had remind him to give in to the pleasure, too.
Buffy looked down at him as she sat on his cock. His glazed over eyes were partly shut; his dark eyelashes just fluttering open when he felt her still her movements. She reached behind them and caressed his balls, which were already hard and firm, but became more so by her touch. He moaned and tried to put his fingers between them to rub her clit, but she pushed his hand aside.
She straightened up and came down to kiss him, “I don’t need to be the multiple orgasm queen tonight, you know,” she said, her hands on his head, finger in his rumpled curls.
“Huh?”
“It’s your turn, William,” she said, then added in a low voice, “besides, you know how much I love to feel how hard you get inside me, right before you come.”
“Yeah?” he asked as he looked, smiling lazily, and at the same time starting to move in rhythm underneath her.
“Yeah,” her voice came out huskily, as her body responded to his, and she felt another orgasm of her own building. “Some...some....times, yours starts at the end of mine, and it feels....oh God...completes mine, me...oh....”
“Like now?” he asked, kissing her, his tongue hungry inside her mouth.
“Uh-huh,” she squeaked out, as his hands moved her hips to meet his thrusts.”
“Oh...oh...oh....” she gasped as she felt herself start to come, then felt him harden in intensity within her, and her pleasure increased for even longer, until she finally felt him shudder and heard him cry out. They went for a few seconds longer, until she collapsed onto him.
They turned over on their sides, still entwined.
“Love you,” he sighed, kissing her.
“Love you, too.”
END CHAPTER 130